But more importantly, its failure can also be attributed to the fact that unity or tolerance? in maintaining harmony in multicultural relations are not valued on their own right as opposed to being important pre-requisites for ensuring societal stability to enable economic success.
Popular political participation is also severely regulated for the same reason ? to ensure social cohesion. The primary concern is economic development hence strict control was placed over civil liberties and organised political action. The government has a full set of laws and practices that restrict the opposition and government critics. These include: defamation law suits, the Internal Security Act, the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act, the Societies Act, the Undesirable Publications Act, the Political Donations Act and government ownership of the media. Further the government controls the election machinery, determines the timing of elections and boundaries and continuously amendments the electoral rules (National Democratic Institute, 2001).
Government policies since Singapore's independence in 1965 have emphasised asset accumulation as a measure of success, prosperity and social cohesion. Economic development was to provide the focus and common building block for a disparate migrant community to evolve into a nation. The continuous pursuit of a higher standard of material living, even at times of difficulty, is equated with the meaning of life. This extreme emphasis on materialism has been at the expense of social cohesion where being a people and achieving a sense of community has been lost.
For most Singaporeans there has been no significant improvement in economic conditions, and many face deepening structural poverty. This is poverty caused by changes in the structure of society such as the emergence of the knowledge society, which builds on education and lifelong learning for the integration of all members into social and economic life. Retrenchments continue, many businesses either continue to post losses, down size or relocate elsewhere, job prospects look bleak, the cost of living and doing business in Singapore remain relatively high, our young people joining the work force for the first time find it harder to secure jobs and start at much lower salaries. More families and individuals are unable to pay their mortgages, utilities and other bills. A principle cause in the deterioration of the present economic situation is in part the absence of checks and balances and part in the elite management of the Singapore economy.
In light of these inadequacies, there is a need to put forward different policy options through ideas and solutions derived from Singaporeans and provide those essential checks and balances and non-elitist practices to ensure social cohesion and to repossess ownership over the policy making process. One way to achieve this is by initiating wide public consultation to find out what Singaporeans want and how they would like to rectify the problem.
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-Jonathan